The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) is proposing a 20% increase in its fees and charges.
In a public consultation on April 27, Marina presented a draft memorandum circular that revises the schedule of its fees and charges. Marina said the increase complies with Executive Order No. 197-2000, Administrative Order No. 31-2013, and Department of Finance-Department of Budget and Management Joint Circular Order No. 01-2013.
EO No. 197-2000 states that “all departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and units, including government-owned or controlled corporations, are hereby directed to review and upgrade their rates of fees and charges by not less than twenty percent (20%).”
The last rate increase was effected in 2008.
Marina said it opted for a 20% hike because its study showed rates would be much higher with a cost-based increase.
Fees for ships below 35 gross tonnage, which include fishing boats, will be exempt from the hike as part of “social services” rendered by the government.
Covered under the proposed increase are charges for administrative and general, domestic and overseas shipping, franchising, legal service, enforcement, manpower development, maritime safety, and shipyard regulation services.
Under the draft memorandum, the application fee for vessel acquisition, bareboat charter/extension/renewal, importation, exercise of option to purchase, lease purchase, and Lease-Irrevocable-Purchase scheme for vessels will increase to P12,360 per vessel 10 years old and below, from the current rate of P10,300. For vessels over 10 years old, application fee will rise to P24,710 from P20,590.
Fees under MC No. 186 (rules on the accreditation of maritime enterprises) are proposed to go up to P11,040 from P9,200 for a corporation and partnership, and to P7,620 from P6,350 for a single proprietorship.
Accreditation of domestic shipping enterprises or entities under MC 2006-003, on the other hand, is seen to rise to P10,300 from P8,580 for corporations, P5,160 from P4,300 for cooperatives, P6,180 from P5,150 for partnerships, and P940 from P780 for single proprietorships.
Fees for accrediting overseas shipping companies under MC No. 186 may go up to P12,400 from P10,350. Administrative or general fees for documents could increase from P300 from P250.
During the consultation, Atty. Pedro Aguilar, Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association (PISA) executive director, asked Marina to also hike fees for foreign-flagged vessels given special permits to ply domestic routes where no domestic ships operate.
Aguilar said government should help the local shipping industry by making it expensive for foreign-flagged vessels to do business in the country so as to encourage firms to use local carriers instead.
In an earlier position paper on the lifting of the cabotage policy, PISA said local carriers pay more fees than foreign liners’, making charges of higher than the latter.
Under the draft, no fee increase is to be imposed on the special permit allowing foreign-owned or registered vessels and Philippine-registered overseas vessels to operate temporarily in the domestic trade.
Aguilar also said they support the fee increase plan, provided the fund will not go to government coffers but directly to the improvement of Marina’s operations.
Other maritime organizations said they approve of the proposed increase, but requested that some of the charges that were not previously imposed on seafarers be lowered.
Moreover, some proposed the creation of a technical working group for each maritime sector that will look at the proposed rates and make sure that, unlike in previous consultations, suggestions from stakeholders are taken into consideration.
Marina assured it will consolidate all suggestions of stakeholders and present them to the agency’s management and board. It added that stakeholders will also be notified whether their suggestions were included or not.
The maritime agency will also be holding regional hearings on the proposal.—Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of worradmu at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
